Browse Forums Building A New House Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 541Aug 22, 2017 11:50 am Hi! In a rush here, so have to be quick. Regarding the security doors to the Boutiques, we were told a couple of things after making a few calls, but it looks like it's painfully hard and costly for a third party to do them after the build and only A&L can do them at the build or after and it costs a bomb for A&L to come out and do it later, especially for someone very regional like us, so it works out better for them to be included now with the Dennis mark up. Pretty sure RT gave me the heads up on looking into this and I'm so thankful for it. Must dash. Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 542Aug 22, 2017 1:41 pm rtforresters Welcome to the forum. You all are just about to commence your builds and im finally done Wish you all the best on your build and hope it goes smoothly for you Thanks!! Just wanted to pass on thanks too for the info on the Boutique Sliding doors, as per rattleAU's post above Enjoy your new house!! rattleAU Hi! In a rush here, so have to be quick. Regarding the security doors to the Boutiques, we were told a couple of things after making a few calls, but it looks like it's painfully hard and costly for a third party to do them after the build and only A&L can do them at the build or after and it costs a bomb for A&L to come out and do it later, especially for someone very regional like us, so it works out better for them to be included now with the Dennis mark up. Pretty sure RT gave me the heads up on looking into this and I'm so thankful for it. Must dash. Thanks rattleAU, looking forward to discussing more!! Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 543Aug 24, 2017 7:48 am No probs about the boutique sliding door tip. I wish i had known for my build but i was able to make a difference for you guyz. We are still in the middle of moving and unpacking. You don't realise how many things you have until you pack and unpack. Im trying to cull anything I haven't touched in the last few yrs so it's been a mission. Things are still everywhere so as soon we're more settled i will take more photos and post Building with Dennis Family Homes Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 544Aug 24, 2017 12:07 pm rtforresters You don't realise how many things you have until you pack and unpack. Im trying to cull anything I haven't touched in the last few yrs so it's been a mission. I'm a hoarder and like to keep stuff for sentimental reasons, which annoys my wife a lot. Heh, heh.... Wife hired a skip when we were getting our house ready for sale last year and I'd sneak out and go through it and bring back in stuff I hadn't seen in years. Bad move! A couple of weeks ago, she was sorting a heap of boxes we had in the roof for 17 years at the old house and I found so much cool stuff. I obviously didn't need it in all that time, but there are some cool video tapes and cassettes that I want to keep now, that will more than likely never get played. I just can't throw them out. Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 545Aug 24, 2017 1:46 pm rattleAU rtforresters You don't realise how many things you have until you pack and unpack. Im trying to cull anything I haven't touched in the last few yrs so it's been a mission. I'm a hoarder and like to keep stuff for sentimental reasons, which annoys my wife a lot. Heh, heh.... Wife hired a skip when we were getting our house ready for sale last year and I'd sneak out and go through it and bring back in stuff I hadn't seen in years. Bad move! A couple of weeks ago, she was sorting a heap of boxes we had in the roof for 17 years at the old house and I found so much cool stuff. I obviously didn't need it in all that time, but there are some cool video tapes and cassettes that I want to keep now, that will more than likely never get played. I just can't throw them out. Hehehe!! So glad I am not alone!! I found a box of old cassettes and my old Sony walkman!!! My children were horrified when I showed them how you had to press rewind and forward, stop and play and check when you wanted to hear a particular song instead of just skipping directly to it. My daugter took it to Museum Day at school!!! I am not throwing it out either! They are probably collectors items now!! Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 546Aug 28, 2017 1:40 pm We have a contract!! Yay! And more importantly, its not wildly out of budget! Phew!! Next step is submitting plans to council. Technically, t should be easy as we are not asking for any dispensations this time but then again, this is the council and who knows what mood the person whose desk it arrives on is in! That process generally takes 4-6 weeks and then its onto organizing demolition, rental, pack up and move! Eek!! Its happening!! Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 547Aug 29, 2017 10:03 am Lenz88 We have a contract!! Yay! And more importantly, its not wildly out of budget! Phew!! Next step is submitting plans to council. Technically, t should be easy as we are not asking for any dispensations this time but then again, this is the council and who knows what mood the person whose desk it arrives on is in! That process generally takes 4-6 weeks and then its onto organizing demolition, rental, pack up and move! Eek!! Its happening!! Awesome to hear Lenz88, hopefully smooth sailing from here!! Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 548Aug 29, 2017 12:26 pm Good stuff! Congrats! Looking forward to following your progress. Still waiting for the amended contract to come back, so we're just waiting patiently. Bought a sink for the pantry on the weekend. The store was one of the 20% off stores on Ebay, so we got a nice, big one with a bonus stainless steel rack and drainer for about $110.00 posted. We'll take our big pots and baking trays in there to wash. With 6 kids, we always use big pots and large baking trays. Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 549Aug 31, 2017 10:59 am Hopefully very soon rattleAU..... We just booked our colour selection for the 11th Sept...we are very very excited haha. I was told contract usually is around the 6 week mark after that is that correct? Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 550Aug 31, 2017 12:50 pm Nice! Colour selection is so much fun. Yeah, our contract came about 6-7 weeks after that. Go through it thoroughly. We spent 5 hours in the office correcting all the discrepancies in ours and changing stuff which had not been done previously (should have). Having said that, I think our situation was not the norm and I doubt many would have that many discrepancies. Anyway, enjoy! I'm sure you'll be counting down the days. Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 551Sep 05, 2017 9:22 am Lenz88 We have a contract!! Yay! And more importantly, its not wildly out of budget! Phew!! Next step is submitting plans to council. Technically, t should be easy as we are not asking for any dispensations this time but then again, this is the council and who knows what mood the person whose desk it arrives on is in! That process generally takes 4-6 weeks and then its onto organizing demolition, rental, pack up and move! Eek!! Its happening!! Awesome news Lenz. One step closer and hopefully it won't take too long before it all starts. Building with Dennis Family Homes Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 553Sep 05, 2017 1:30 pm rattleAU How are you guys going RT? Hey rattle, we are slowly still working through a list of issues with dfh. They have been out today to address the 28 outstanding issues. It's just been a headache with the move and trying to get the house looking the way you want. We have heaps of other things that we are doing ourselves that is taking longer than we thought. Our electrician is sick so we haven't had our pendants put in or downlights installed. Still waiting for our shutters and security doors to be installled. We are definitely happy with the braemar heater we installed and so glad we didnt just stick with dfh stock standard. The only thing i would suggest if you do this is make sure the return air void is big enough otherwise you have to move noggins etc, not ideal. The bosch oven is a dream to use and so glad we upgraded that. We have been in for 2 weeks now and still have things everywhere. Building with Dennis Family Homes Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 554Sep 05, 2017 1:31 pm Oh, if you guyz are considering putting in wall insulation. We have put in 2.5r batts and it doesnt block as much noise as i thought it would so if anything i would go with a higher rating Building with Dennis Family Homes Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 555Sep 06, 2017 2:38 pm Ah, the joys of moving into a new home. Hope it all comes together nicely soon enough. Our block backs onto a forest and there was quite a bit of old wood piled up and random bits of machinery and tin, which the forestry people had used over the years or decades I guess. Went to the local forestry office to see if they could help with cleaning it up and what I could and could not do to tidy the other side of our fence and the guy says "I know exactly where you are talking about, as I am your neighbour 2 doors down". He said to leave it to him. Went to the block today for a look and they have removed everything, burnt the old wood and flattened and scraped the entire area with a bulldozer. Looks awesome. Kids are going to love getting out there with their push bikes and radio controlled cars. That area then goes back for miles, all the way along the Murray River. Really looking forward to going for our walks and bike rides on the tracks out there. Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 556Sep 06, 2017 2:47 pm rtforresters Oh, if you guyz are considering putting in wall insulation. We have put in 2.5r batts and it doesnt block as much noise as i thought it would so if anything i would go with a higher rating Insulation batts, even the best ones, only play a small part in sound insulation. They can only insignificantly improve STC rating of your walls. For the best results you should be considering one or combination of the following: 1) Double (best) or staggered studs. Steel studs work better. 2) Double 16 mm plasterboard with the layer of Green Glue in between. 3) Plasterboard gets attached to drywall furling channels sitting on top of soundproof clips. 4) Layer of Mass Loaded Vinyl between your plaster and studs. Also, no matter how you improve your walls, the main bottlenecks will still be your windows - make sure you cover them with sound-blocking curtains and use laminated glass double or triple glazing on them. Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 557Sep 06, 2017 8:41 pm alexp79 rtforresters Oh, if you guyz are considering putting in wall insulation. We have put in 2.5r batts and it doesnt block as much noise as i thought it would so if anything i would go with a higher rating Insulation batts, even the best ones, only play a small part in sound insulation. They can only insignificantly improve STC rating of your walls. For the best results you should be considering one or combination of the following: 1) Double (best) or staggered studs. Steel studs work better. 2) Double 16 mm plasterboard with the layer of Green Glue in between. 3) Plasterboard gets attached to drywall furling channels sitting on top of soundproof clips. 4) Layer of Mass Loaded Vinyl between your plaster and studs. Also, no matter how you improve your walls, the main bottlenecks will still be your windows - make sure you cover them with sound-blocking curtains and use laminated glass double or triple glazing on them. Thanks. Didnt know about the plasterboard but good to know for future builds. Have already got double glazing as well as roller shutters for external noise. It's more the internal noise that annoys me that's why i thought acoustic batts would've helped but doesnt really do much Building with Dennis Family Homes Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 558Sep 06, 2017 8:44 pm rattleAU Ah, the joys of moving into a new home. Hope it all comes together nicely soon enough. Our block backs onto a forest and there was quite a bit of old wood piled up and random bits of machinery and tin, which the forestry people had used over the years or decades I guess. Went to the local forestry office to see if they could help with cleaning it up and what I could and could not do to tidy the other side of our fence and the guy says "I know exactly where you are talking about, as I am your neighbour 2 doors down". He said to leave it to him. Went to the block today for a look and they have removed everything, burnt the old wood and flattened and scraped the entire area with a bulldozer. Looks awesome. Kids are going to love getting out there with their push bikes and radio controlled cars. That area then goes back for miles, all the way along the Murray River. Really looking forward to going for our walks and bike rides on the tracks out there. Sounds really nice esp with 6 kids, you kinda need the space look forward to seeing some pics once your place gets started Building with Dennis Family Homes Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 559Sep 21, 2017 4:01 pm We had a little bit of progress yesterday. Got the amended contract/plans back and it was pretty good. Only a couple of minor things that we had to question and they seemed to be cut and paste things that they just include, which are not relevant to us at this point. Need to check with the council though, as it still says that we need to build a screen due to overlooking into the neighbours. Problem is that we deleted that bedroom window, so there is no looking from that wall now. We do have a bathroom window a few meters across though. Only further amendment we had to make, was with the bathroom and en suite tiles. They got it mostly correct, but some minor parts were missed, so we got them filled in. We are doing floor to ceiling tiles on all walls and had the en suite and bathroom squared off (no cornices). Keen to see what it looks like in reality, as you can only imagine it in your head and look at your own sketches at the moment. Then went to the flooring company and gave them all the info for the tiles and they are drawing it up and will give us the pricing soon. We are rural, so we have a tiling rebate. We basically select, order and pay for the tiles throughout the house and DFH will pay us back at lock up. Anyway, that stuff with the tiles will be submitted and depending on how busy they are, we should get a start date in a few weeks I guess. Re: Building with Dennis Family Homes 560Sep 23, 2017 8:43 am Nice rattleAU...sounds like good progress to me. We had completed our colour selection and awaiting contract. What makes me nervous though is the time the council is taking to approve a planning permit to remove 8 trees from the build site. The experience so far with Dennis has been great but council is where this may sour the experience...from what i've read about our council anyway.. Hi everyone, Newbie renovator here, after some advice for combining our family room in the picture and the alfresco and make a larger family room. There is a flush sill… 0 4844 Ask for references and speak to them. If they are defensive or try to avoid the request, walk. 1 74688 I would never build with Fowler homes. I built with them in 2021 and till date maintenance issues are pending. All their existing trades and businesses don't work with… 14 105482 |